All-optical networks are emerging as the next generation of broadband networks for both wide area and local area networks. Despite the enormous bandwidth that optical channels can provide, however, their capacity may be limited by a number of factors. The capacity of optical networks based upon wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and wavelength routing, for example, is limited by the tuning range of the optical lasers. Although wavelength reuse of the available optical bandwidth can increase the capacity of such networks, it remains desirable to increase the degree of connectivity in such networks so as to exploit as much of the available optical bandwidth as possible. In particular, it is desirable to allow an optical signal using an arbitrary carrier frequency and being transmitted along one transmission line to be switched to a different carrier frequency and transmitted along another optical transmission line.